AV on a Mac

[TheBiggmann]

Just got back from college orientation, and they kept talking about how you need to have an AV, regardless of the OS you're using, so naturally my dad is freaking out about this. They offered us a Symantec version for free through UW but I hate Symantec on my windows computer, it slowed it down so much and i refuse to put it on another computer. What do you guys recommend? And what is your opinion on the situation?

 

[Kaido]

You don't need antivirus on a Mac currently. Anyone who tells you that doesn't know what they're talking about.

The only purpose I can see for using antivirus software on a Mac, is for scanning incoming files for Windows viruses. So if you download something online and it has a virus, then send it to your teacher and infect the network, then yeah, it's probably a good idea to have. If you want to keep yourself covered in this situation, then I'd recommend ClamXav (free):

http://www.clamxav.com/

 

[sourceninja]

I don't run antivirus on my mac or my linux box. Until there are major viruses out for mac in the wild I'm not going to bother.

 

[Gooberlx2]

And what is your opinion on the situation?

The AV "requirement" can safely be ignored.

The orientation guide is just another student, spewing garbage from a script which is catered to the 90% other students who're not computer savvy or malware aware and running windows.

Most students will have their friends in an email address book, and it's an almost certainty that someone will get infected and it will be sent to all their contacts. Somewhere down that chain you'll almost certainly see a number of windows viruses come through your inbox.

 

[Parasitic]

Does the university make you install one of their nanny programs in order to connect to the internet? If so then you might as well put it on. The OSX version of Symantec AV actually doesn't have too big of a footprint.

 

[Ns1]

any update for 2010?

 

[sourceninja]

There are still no serious threats for osx. All av will do on osx is scan for windows viruses

 

[ubercaffeinated]

no need for anti virus on os x now. probably ever.

 

[Cal166]

I'm currently using Symantec EndPoint for OSX, I mainly use it because I download files for Windows.

 

[Noriaki]

I wouldn't bother, but then I don't even run AV software on my windows box. However, if you want AV software that's relatively unobtrustive try http://www.clamxav.com/